‘Dragon Age: The Veilguard’ Hits PS Plus Already, Which Is Bleak

At this point there is no spinning that at least commercially, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is proving to be a big miss from EA and BioWare. I don’t even think this is “unreasonable publisher expectations” in this instance, but it just…genuinely did not do well by any sales metric. Now, the beleaguered game is hitting PS Plus exceptionally fast, now a featured game four months after its release on October 2024.

That is deeply troubling for a AAA RPG, much less one a decade in the making since GOTY Dragon Age: Inquisition back in 2014. Previously, EA said that it had only had 1.5 million “engagements” compared to the 3 million it wanted, and using that terminology, that’s not even sales. Now, they have apparently just taken a check from Sony to get it on PS Plus as apparently things are not turning around.

Why did Dragon Age: The Veilguard fail? It did not review poorly. It was not scored poorly by Steam users (who must actually own the game). But it was a combination of factors that I’ve written about previously (disclaimer, I liked the game). That includes the difficulty of introducing new players to a series using tons of existing lore from a game a decade ago. Gauging the loyalty of a fanbase after that same amount of time who is willing to return to a game with a different look, feel and tone. “Culture war” debates over progressive plotlines swamping the internet instead of marketing breaking through. Recent comparisons to all-time great Baldur’s Gate 3. Take your pick.

The craziest explanation was from EA CEO Andrew Wilson who cited exactly none of those reasons, but instead drew a conclusion that no one else agrees with:

“In order to break out beyond the core audience, games need to directly connect to the evolving demands of players who increasingly seek shared-world features and deeper engagement alongside high-quality narratives in this beloved category,” Wilson said. “Dragon Age had a high-quality launch and was well-reviewed by critics and those who played. However, it did not resonate with a broad enough audience in this highly competitive market.”

Yes, that’s saying that Veilguard failed because it wasn’t an ongoing/live service title which no one, even its harshest critics, would say was an actual problem.

This PS Plus move is just the dusting of a tombstone when EA has already laid off a number of BioWare employees associated with the game and it’s been established the IP is effectively dead as BioWare turns purely to Mass Effect 5, a game that hopes to avoid the mess that happened here. A bleak ending for the game, to be sure.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.